Ocala, Fla. (November 20, 2018) – The daughter of one of drag racing’s most iconic superstars was honored in Dauphin, Pa. on November 10, 2018, at Bruce Larson’s “USA-1 DragFest” gathering.
Honored was Donna Garlits, who now calls southwestern Virginia home, the youngest daughter of the famed “Big Daddy” Don Garlits and the late Pat Garlits. Dauphin resident Larson, the host of the annual event and one of drag racing’s early Funny Car stars who raced the well-known “USA-1” Chevrolet Camaros, said, “I have chosen to honor Donna for her tireless efforts to preserve, promote and perpetuate the heritage of drag racing as the General Manager/Chief Financial Officer of her father’s ‘Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing’ in Ocala, Fla., for several years.”
“While Donna was not a racer, she grew up in the ‘Golden Age’ of the sport and witnessed the high and low moments of her father’s career, and of his contemporaries. She worked diligently to elevate the Museum to become a major attraction in Ocala and central Florida. Additionally, she brought the affiliated International Drag Racing Hall of Fame (IDRHoF) and its annual induction banquet to greater prominence, and made it one of the most important drag racing off-track events of every year.”
Her father, Don Garlits commented, “I think it is great that Bruce Larson has chosen to honor Donna this year. Donna put in quite a few years of service to the benefit of both the Drag Racing Museum and the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame.”
Donna Garlits’ influence has stretched across international boundaries. “She created a bridge between the drag racing community of the United Kingdom and Europe,” says Stu Bradbury, Chairman of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame (BDRHoF).
“The BDRHoF inducted Don into the Hall of Fame in 2014 for his overall contributions to the sport, and in helping launch it here in the UK and in Europe. Donna was very interested in what we were doing, and invited representatives from the BDRHoF to the IDRHoF gala in 2015, which introduced legendary racers and the media to each other. This triggered trans-Atlantic delegations to each organization’s induction galas since then.
